Salesforce has been spending to boost its artificial-intelligence, capabilities, but investors still have their doubts.
Shares of Salesforce fell for the 11th consecutive day on Tuesday, losing over 22% during that period, according to Dow Jones Market Data. That made for the stock’s longest losing streak on record.
Salesforce on Monday announced an agreement to acquire Fin, a customer-agent company, for approximately $3.6 billion. Fin’s core offering is called “AI Agent,” which “resolves complex customer queries” across multiple channels, including live chat, email, texting and phone calls, according to Monday’s statement.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Rishi Jaluria told MarketWatch that the acquisition introduces “execution risk,” at a time when the stock has been struggling.
The statement said that Fin will build on the strength of Agentforce, Salesforce’s own highly touted agent offering. But Jaluria noted that the buyout of Fin, on top of the recent acquisitions of data-management company Informatica, completed last year, and content platform Contentful, announced earlier this month, means the company has “[a] lot to integrate.”
He also said that Monday’s announcement may have amplified investor concerns around Salesforce, noting that sentiment toward application-software vendors is “particularly weak,” especially with concerns about seat-based pricing models, he said.
Software companies are working to figure out how to price expensive AI services after previously charging corporate customers per “seat” — or user of the software — for their traditional offerings.
Salesforce, meanwhile, has struggled to impress investors with its growth and recently delivered mixed April-quarter results.
Jaluria noted that broader weakness in the software sector on Tuesday helped drive Salesforce’s stock pressure. Shares lost 1.8%, while the iShares Expanded-Tech Software ETF fell 1.4%.
The stock recorded its lowest close since February 2023, when it finished at $161.62, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
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